Wait and See
by Duchess67
Summary: Sheppard is on leave...


Title: Wait and See

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the characters in it, nor do I own Stargate;Atlantis or the characters in it.

A/N When you see this it denotes a change in point of view. I'll be doing that here and there in this fic, but hopefully the above will be enough of a warning for you.

A/N2 I've sat on this for quite some time, trying to get more of it written before I started posting. I'm a bit ahead at this point, so thought I'd go ahead now. Love it, hate it, say something, okay? g

Chapter 1 It's gonna happen anyway…

Landry smiled at the officer before him, "Thanks to all the red tape we have to deal with, the Daedelus won't be able to leave Earth orbit, barring an emergency, until three weeks from tomorrow. Both Dr. Beckett and Dr. Heitmeyer sent orders for you to have at least two week's worth of R&R while you're here and considering what you've been through recently, I'd have to agree."

He actually shuddered, having reviewed the recordings made by people who'd experienced being fed on. Knowing Sheppherd had gone through it several times, drawing the nightmare out for hours, made his skin crawl. "As far as I'm concerned, you can take the entire three weeks you have to wait on the Daedelus."

Colonel John Sheppherd all but winced, "I feel fine, sir. The Wraith gave me back everything he took and then some."

The General interrupted, "It ihas/i been a while since you've been back on Earth, son. Go out and enjoy yourself for a while. If we need you, we'll call you."

When it looked like the man in front of him was going to say something else to dispute his downtime, the General lost his smile and barked, "That's an order, Colonel."

Saluting, "Yes sir!"

"Dismissed."

John turned to leave the office when his commanding officer's voice stopped him.

"Oh and Colonel, try not to get into any trouble we can't bail you out of." The amused expression was back in place.

Amused now him self, "I'll try sir." He walked out with a smile.

An hour later he was leaving the base in civilian clothes, his duffle tossed into the backseat of the jeep he was allowed to use. He planned to grab a bite to eat and hit a club or maybe just a bar in town. A couple had been recommended by some of the Marines he'd been talking to on base.

He decided to stay at a hotel or motel near wherever he ended up, figuring if he spent the night away from base and showed back up tomorrow afternoon, Landry would let him back in.

Faith Lehane rolled into town just before sunset in her BMW convertible and got her self a room. She'd come a long way from the days of staying in seedy motel rooms, something for which she was thankful every day.

She decided she could do a quick patrol and hit the club she'd seen a couple of blocks away and in walking distance of her hotel. No drinking and driving. Ever since her pardon came through, she'd tried to stay as much on the straight and narrow as her calling would let her.

A couple hours later, she'd hit all the places that had seemed likely to be hangouts for bloodsuckers and other demons and called to check in with her sister slayer in Boulder where she was supposed to be the next day. "It's me. Yeah, got into the Springs a bit ago and decided to patrol. This place is dead as far as demon activity goes. I don't get it, but I'm happy for 'em."

She paused for a moment to listen and her face fell, "Yeah, it's cool, don't worry about it. How were you to know your parents were gonna make a surprise visit? Have fun kiddo and I'll catch ya later."

Faith hung up the phone and smiled, happy for her sister slayer. The young girl hadn't taken well to her calling at first and neither had her parents, but once she'd been found and let in on what the hell was happening, she'd- they'd, been fine. Now the girl was in college and doing great. Faith was happy for her, she really was.

She put her phone away, "Time to party," she whispered, heading for the club.

John had been away from home for so long he'd forgotten how much he hated the loud music and flashing lights of clubs. I think I'd rather go check into that hotel down the block and just watch a game on ESPN. With a sigh, he downed his drink and waved to the bartender as he got off his stool. When he turned toward the door, he saw a brunette beauty walk in and his brain started to fizz a little.

He shook his head, thinking there must have been more alcohol in his drink than he'd realized, but he can't take his eyes off the woman as she glides up to the bar.

She brushes up against him as she leans into the wooden railing and the fizzing in his brain intensified, but he didn't feel unfocused, as if from too much to drink. No, he felt very focused at the moment.

The woman was getting the bartender's attention and asked for a double shot of SoCo, got it and downed it in one gulp before turning to look him in the eye. She smiled.

He felt a jolt of ... something, travel down his spine and spread throughout his body. He ihad/i to get to know this woman.

Faith felt tingly from the moment she walked in the door, but it wasn't her demon sense being tripped, it was a far more human and base feeling than that. Not wanting to go there, she walked up to the bar, too late realizing the one that set her off was the man she'd just brushed up against. The tingling sensations just got more intense.

She forced herself to order a drink, even made it a double in hopes of dulling the edge of this feeling a little, she got it and swallowed it down immediately. Faith felt his eyes on her as if an actual physical touch and finally turned to face him to discover the attraction is instantaneous.

She thought to herself, What the hell, I've been alone for over a year. A girl's allowed to have a little fun once in a while. She smiled invitingly.

John handed the bartender a twenty to pay for her drink without looking at the man and asked the woman, "Wanna dance?" One eyebrow went up suggestively and the money vanished from his fingers.

She didn't say a word, just grabbed him by his jacket and pulled him closer, inhaled deeply, as if she smelled something good. "Faith," she introduced herself.

He grinned down into the face so close to his own, "Sheppherd," he told her, the mischievous glint of humor in his eyes.

She blinked in disbelief and then laughed, turned around and lead him to the dance floor, keeping their bodies in close contact the whole way.

Never having been one for the bump and grind kind of dancing popular nowadays, John found himself doing just that with Faith and enjoyed it immensely. The woman in his arms was incredible and he couldn't get enough of her.

It wasn't long before she let him know that just dancing wasn't enough for her either and by unspoken agreement they headed for the door.

Many hours later…

The two sat on the floor and leaned up against the side of the bed, Sheppherd had his arms wrapped tightly around the most incredible lover he's ever had, his chin propped on top of her head as they watch the sun rise outside her penthouse balcony doors.

Faith twined her fingers in his and asked, "You don't have to go back for at least a couple of weeks, right?"

"Yeah," he answered, the thought inexplicably filling him with dread. What the hell? Atlantis is my home now, so where did that come from? Instinctively he pulled her closer.

She wiggled a little so that she could turn and look at him and asked, "You have anywhere else you need to be until then?"

He couldn't help the smirk that formed on his lips, "Is that your way of asking me to stay with you and be your devoted love slave until then?"

She giggled, something she planned to quietly freak about later, but in the meantime answered the question with a playful one of her own. "You think you're qualified to fill the position?"

His eyes widened in surprise, "I'll show you qualified!" John told her in a mock indignant tone. He scooped her up out of the blanket nest they'd made earlier, threw her on the bed and proceeded to show her exactly what he was capable of.

Much later, legs still twined and eyelids drooping, the two smile lazily at each other. Faith lay on his chest, her chin rested on her hands and asked, "Whatcha thinkin' 'bout, Shep?"

John answered readily enough, "I hate to go to sleep."

Faith smiled back, "I know what you mean. I don't wanna wake up later and have this turn out to only be the best damn dream I've ever had instead of the real thing."

His heart quickened slightly at that so he quipped, "Exactly, because that would just suck."

Faith continued, "Most of the time my life is a cruel joke. When something good happens, I don't usually deal with it well. God I really don't want this … us, to turn out to be just a wicked cool wet dream."

John let his hands roam across her shoulders and back before he wrapped his arms around her again and held on tight, "Feels really real to me." He earnestly looked her in the eye and realization dawned, "I'll be here when you wake up, Faith. If for some strange reason I get called back to the base early, I'll make sure to wake you up for a proper goodbye and hopefully an exchange of information so we can keep in touch. You have my word." His voice is low and earnest.

Faith blinked and moved her arms under him, her hands curled up over his shoulders. She turned her head and lay her cheek on his chest to hide the fact that tears had sprung to her eyes. "Thanks."

Neither understood where this nearly tangible connection had come from, nor was either one ready question it yet.

A little while later, John felt an inexplicable sense of triumph when Faith, lying on his chest, her forehead tucked up against his chin, fully relaxed in sleep at last. He kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep himself, more relaxed and at peace than he'd ever been.

Even in sleep, neither released their hold on the other.

A/N I finally found all my Def Leppard CDs that had been packed up in last Spring's move and was listening to a couple of 'em while I cleaned my house one day, shortly after Thanksgiving. I put in Adrenalize and when it got to the song, "Tonight" the inspiration for this story hit me like a ton of bricks. The fic didn't turn out exactly like the words in the song, so I didn't post it with the story, but it's still close enough for me. There are lots of lyric sites if you aren't familiar with it and are curious.

And in case anyone is interested, there is more of this fic to come, darnit! Why couldn't it just have been a short story? glaring at my muse I'm isupposed/i to be doing a Faith/Vin Tanner (from the ATF M7 universe created by Mog) thing with another author right now. Well, at least I'm finally writing about ONE of the proper characters. rueful chuckle


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